Confucian Capitalism: Discourse, Practice and the Myth of Chinese Enterprise

197 Pages·2002·9.676 MB·English

by  Souchou Yao

Confucian Capitalism
The idea of Confucian Capitalism has been crucial in shaping our
understandingof theeconomic success of the Chinesediaspora all overthe
world.Hardwork,familyvalues,andcommunalcohesion,aswellasbusiness
practices based on sentiment, trust, and social networks are the legendary
means of explaining the wealth and commercial talent of these remarkable
people.
This book examines the subject of 'Chinese enterprise'. It exposes
the enduring myth about the determining effects of values and practices
supposedly derived from Confucianism. Such myth relies on the notion of
timeless 'Chineseculture', and brings into focus three areas of controversy:
the economicallydriven Chinese subject, work-place relations characterised
by consensusand culturalsharing, and an ethos of communal, pre-capitalist
socialrelationship.
The author draws on case studies from fieldwork among the Chinese
traders in Sarawak, East Malaysia. By anchoring abstract analysis to real
examples, the book's multi-disciplinary approach offers penetrating insight
into Chinese business practices, and contributes to the understanding
of economic anthropology, the culture of Overseas Chinese, and neo
Confuciansocietiesgenerally.
Souchou Yao is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, the
Universityof Sydney, Australia.
Chinese Worlds
Chinese Worlds publishes high-quality scholarship, research monographs,
and source collections on Chinese history and society from 1900 to the
present.
'Worlds' signals the ethnic, cultural, and political multiformity and
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ChineseBusinessin Malaysia
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Confucian Capitalism
Discourse, practice and the
myth of Chinese enterprise
Souchou Yao
Da im folgenden versucht wird, das
formulieren, mufs kurz die Aufgab
Firstpublished2002
byRoutiedgeCurzon,animprintofTaylor& Francis
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Transferredto DigitalPrinting2006
©2002SouchouYao
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In memory of my parents
Contents
Preface xi
1 Confucian capitalism: discourse, practice, longing 1
2 The immigrant enterprise syndrome and the capitalist
myth 21
3 With the Chinese traders in Belaga: the romance of
business endeavour and the narrative of virtue 41
4 Cheng Jia:economics, sexuality and marital choice 60
5 Kan dian: power, work relations and the invention of
the family 82
6 Quanxi as cultural model: social pleasure, materialgain
and the trading of words 101
7 Xingyong:trust, faith and the failure of status 121
8 Chinese business networks and thepenalty of culture 141
9 Epilogue: power of myth and practicalvision 162
Notes 169
Bibliography 175
Index 184
Preface
This book is the result of a dialogue with colleagues in sociology and
business management. Encouraged by the keen interest of these disciplines
in the social effects of culture, and in the role of Confucianism in shaping
contemporary Chinese economic behaviour, I developed a course called
'Confucian capitalism: discourse, practice, desire' for senior students at the
Department of Anthropology, the University of Sydney. Later, the course
was modified into a more accessible 'cross-disciplinary' offeringwhen Iwas
asked to participatein teachingAsianStudies in the MBA programmeat the
University of Western Sydney Macarthur, New South Wales. This brief
background helps to explain the form the book has taken. My own field of
anthropology provided much of the language and the rangeof issues- gifts
and commodities, exchange, sexuality, network, and of course, culture
which engaged my analysis. At the same time, and at the risk of some
repetition, Ihave madeeach chapterascompleteaspossibleso that it canbe
read more or less by itself. Readers should nonetheless be familiar with the
ethnographicconditionsof Belagatownship which Idescribed inChapter3.
In the examination of the modus operandi of Chinese business, the book
seems to advance a highly pessimistic view about the effects of culture,and
the relevance of Confucianism, amongChinesecommunities. In this Ishare
the dominant mood of my own discipline for which culture has become 'a
deeply compromised idea' (Clifford 1988: 12). But culture - even that
existing locally and nationally - cannot be done away with even in these
postmoderntimes. It remainsan usefulconceptif wecanseeits socialeffects
in context, and locate it in the condition of its making and unmaking. In
our case, 'Confucian heritage' and Chinese dynastic history really cannot
explain the 'evidence' of workers' compliance, and of the centrality of
managerial authority which researchers reportedly find in East Asian
societies.In Singapore,forinstance,the'industrialpeace'ismoretheworkof
the Ministry of Labour - and the pro-government National Trade Union
Congress(NTUC)- thanthatofConfucianvalues.If culturehas an influence
in socialbehaviour,the politicaland materialconditionsin whichit operates
must be brought into focus as a part of the total equation of things. This
process of 'cultural reproduction' is crucial when we make claims about
xii Preface
culture's effectiveness and impotence in a particular situation. Given the
fetishistic notion of culture in the 'Confucian capitalism' thesis, it is
tempting to wheel the argument around, by turningChinese entrepreneurs
into 'supreme pragmatists' for whom culture has no intrinsic values other
than formakingguanxiconnections or installing harmony in theworkplace.
This, as readers will discover, is far from being the case even in the remote
jungle of Sarawak. Culture, when we see it in the context of its dynamic
innovation,remainshighlyrelevantas much fortheanthropologist asfor the
Chinese traders in Belaga - the social aspirations and economic hope of
whomare thesubject of thisbook.
Acknowledgements
Earlierversionsofsomechaptershavebeenpresentedatvariousconferences.
Chapter3isasubstantialrevisionofapaperreadattheConferenceon'Over
seas Chinese and the Modernization of Asia Pacific' held in Bielefeld Uni
versity, Germany, December 1995, and later published as 'The Romance of
Asian Capitalism: Geography, Desire and Chinese Business' in Mark T.
BergerandDouglasA. Borer (eds)TheRiseofEastAsia:CriticalVisionsofthe
PacificCentury,London: Routledge(1997).Chapter 5had its previous life as
apaperpresentedatthe'Conferenceon ChineseBusinessinSoutheastAsia',
held in University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, in June 1997. Chapter 6 was
first given at the 'Conference on Crisis Management,Chinese Entrepreneurs
and Business Networks', held at the University of Bonn, Germany,in May
1999.Iwould like to thank K.S.jomo,Hans-Dieter Evers,SolvayGerkeand
Thomas Menkhoff who invited me to these conferences. Hans-DieterEvers
and ThomasMenkhoff convinced me thatthetopicof Confuciancapitalism
is worthy of a 'deep analysis'; I am grateful for their encouragement. Chua
Beng-Huatfirst suggested to methefeasibilityofabookproject.Mystudents
at the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney
contributedgreatlytosharpeningmy argument.Finally,andnotleast,special
thanks to the Chinese traders in Belaga who so generously shared with me
theirlives andwork. TheSarawak Museumand theDistrict OfficeofBelaga
had assisted me in my early stages of fieldwork, and I am grateful to Peter
Kedit andJayal Langub fortheir generoussupportand assistance.
Whatever the merit of this book, I want to thank my colleagues at the
Department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney, Australia, and
at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, for the stimulating
intellectual environments they foster. The ideas in the book also owe much
to my conversations over the years with Mayfair Yang, Tong Chi Kiong,
Greg Teal, Michael van Langenberg, Mark Berger, Penny Graham, Van
Duesenberry,Manfred Kerseling,FloraBotton,and A.B.Shamsul. Terrence
Gomez, with hisexpertise and quietefficiency,hasseen through the revision
of the book, providingboth criticalfeedback and encouragement.Needless
to say,whatever analyticalerrorsremain aremine.